Désormais
by Yilena
Summary: As Marinette struggles to complete a dungeon for the first time, a newcomer to her party patiently guides her through it, managing to catch her interest in the process. It helped that Riena's personality was as cute as her character. AU.


**AN:** When I've told people before how I met my boyfriend—the whole online thing with gender confusion—they've laughed and told me to write it, so I kind of did? I've left the game pretty vague so it can be whatever you want it to be. It's just a meet-cute that was done quickly as I'm busy working on other things. I hope it's obvious who Marinette's playing with. For teasers for upcoming stories and information on how to request a story, you can go to my tumblr (xiueryn).

 _Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Chat Noir © Thomas Astruc_

While there were surely better things that she could be doing with her time, Marinette enjoyed playing online the most. It was how she'd met a few close friends throughout the years, was able to calm down after a stressed day, and she definitely liked that she was able to change the armour of her character freely—well, if she had the in-game currency to be able to do so.

When she wasn't even a teenager, just a dumb kid that had gotten a new game and excitedly logged online, she never thought that she'd meet her best friend there.

 **(party) Yotsuha:  
** Mari?  
You there?

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** oh, yeah  
sorry, went afk to get a drink real quick  
apparently not quick enough if you're here worrying?

 **(party) Yotsuha:  
** It takes you thirty minutes to get a drink?

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** I got distracted  
don't be mean to me, nath  
I'm fragile.

 **(party) Yotsuha:  
** Don't make me waste my credit and call you.

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** as if I'd ever pick up?

Best friend or not, there was still a distance between them, sadly. Nathaniel didn't live near her, something they'd discovered after a few months of talking to each other, but they still managed to keep in contact and try to play daily, just to spend time together. And as time progressed, and they'd moved onto the sequel of the first game that they'd met on, she regularly only logged on to play with him, rather than being alone.

It didn't matter that they weren't that good.

Marinette tucked her dark-coloured hair into a ponytail, laughing to herself as she saw his responses.

 **(party) Yotsuha:  
** Why am I even your friend?

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** because you love me?  
plus who else will laugh at your jokes if I'm gone?  
you'll be so underappreciated  
depressed.

 **(party) Yotsuha:  
** I feel depressed with you here right now.

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** cute

Marinette had only just gotten her second character to the max level of the game, but she wasn't anywhere close to affording the good-looking armour that she wanted. The difference of stats wasn't really what she cared for, nor how her character was equipped; she was terribly sub-optimal, she knew, but that wasn't what she was playing for.

The main thing that had lured her in in the first place had been the pretty character designs.

 **(party)** **Yotsuha:  
** Is your friend on?

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** who

 **(party) Yotsuha:  
** Ahh, I can't remember his name.  
The one with the girlfriend?

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** oh, yeah!  
simba's on  
nal's not

 **(party) Yotsuha:  
** Has she added you yet?

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** ahahaa  
no!  
she'll have to one day  
I'm just waiting for it

 **(party) Yotsuha:  
** We've been doing dungeons with them for a few weeks.

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** yeah, and you've barely said a word to them

 **(party) Yotsuha:  
** I don't see what that has to do with it.

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** we're a package deal and you're so unfriendly  
no wonder we can never make other friends  
and have to go with randoms

 **(party) Yotsuha:  
** I'm shy.

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** you literally bitch to me the entire time

 **(party) Yotsuha:  
** You're different.  
I've known you before you had breasts.

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** why did I ever like you

 **(party) Yotsuha:  
** It's a mystery.  
But here we are, seven years later.

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** gross

She did enjoy playing with Nathaniel—the two of them running around, doing quests, or just sitting on top of a random hill and chatting until a wild foe came up and killed one of them while they were looking away for a moment—but there were times where they needed other party members to complete the instances.

Dungeons were just that.

And while Nathaniel was more than happy to give her his in-game money so she could buy a nice-looking weapon that she saw on the trading post, or even farm so they could make it themselves, they needed certain tokens that could only be awarded through completing different paths of the hardest dungeon.

They hadn't even bothered to attempt it yet.

But since Marinette had met Simba one night, randomly joining his party to complete a dungeon when it was almost three in the morning, she'd dragged Nathaniel on with her. Simba had invited his girlfriend, Nal, along with them, and they either had their fifth member as someone from Simba's guild, or a random that was usually somehow worse than Marinette (something she found quite amusing at times).

There wasn't much chatting between them.

Sure, she messaged Simba every now and then, trying to get to know him, but he was mostly talking to his girlfriend in private, and since there was no voice chat implemented in the game, it meant that they had to pause to type to each other outside of fights (or, during when someone had died and wanted to sob while their corpse waited for someone to revive them).

Nal was Simba's equivalent to Nathaniel; quiet, preferred not to type, and let Simba do all of the talking.

 **(whisper to) Simbaote:  
** are you two ready soon?  
I'm hyped to die and fail so much  
thank you so so much for arranging this  
I really appreciate it

 **(whisper from) Simbaote:  
** join my guild then

 **(whisper to) Simbaote:  
** hah no  
I'll just stick with suha

 **(whisper from) Simbaote:  
** he can come too

 **(whisper to) Simbaote:  
** how about  
if we actually clear this dungeon we'll join  
that sound good?

 **(whisper from) Simbaote:  
** you better get ready to eat your words  
mitsu  
youre joining

 **(whisper to) Simbaote:  
** your confidence is great  
we were stuck in a dungeon for two hours last night

 **(whisper from) Simbaote:  
** your memory sucks  
it never happened

 **(whisper to) Simbaote:  
** nal's mom came and dragged her off?

 **(whisper from) Simbaote:  
** no

While she had been concerned that Simba's only driving force to talking to her in the first place had been to get her to join his guild, she genuinely did feel that they'd turned into somewhat friends since then. They vaguely arranged to meet up in the evenings—when he'd noticed that she was online at the same awful times as him—and with Nathaniel dragged along into the mix with Nal, the fact that they only ever needed one more person when most of their server was asleep didn't hinder them much.

Mostly, it was all of them being relatively new.

Well, she liked to think of it that way. Marinette had only gotten into the game a couple of months before, when Nathaniel had gifted it to her for her birthday, and she'd steadily started playing it more and more as the time passed.

Nathaniel didn't really care about optimizing his character at all, instead playing to enjoy the graphics, general gameplay, and nothing that was really vain.

Marinette had no problem telling him his character was ugly.

It was something that she'd learned early. The two genders that players were able to pick for their characters weren't restricted for them; she'd been a bit baffled when she'd first started playing and found out the majority of the pretty-looking female characters she'd seen were played by males—and vice versa at times, but it was never the majority for that—so she'd learned to never really try and predict someone's gender.

Considering that outside of combat, players could make their characters sit down and do other idle things, it was very common to see groups of players chatting together in the safety of cities, where the instance didn't allow any enemies to come inside and disturb them.

A few names and faces became familiar, especially if they typed in all chat where _everyone_ could read what they were saying, but it wasn't as though she knew them personally. There were times where she joined a party and was pleasantly surprised to realise that she'd seen them standing around idly before, or even that she'd recognised their peculiar armour that she really couldn't have put up with herself.

She knew that Nathaniel and Simba were both males, but the two of them had horrendous-looking female characters. Nal's wasn't too bad—other than the obnoxious hair colour and terrible haircut—and Marinette took pride in the appearance of her characters, trying to make them different but still just as nice.

It was because of that that she'd managed to convince Simba to arrange a time to attempt the difficult dungeon with her earlier than their usual time.

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** I can't believe I'm doing this again.

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** shut your mouth?  
you said you got carried  
now carry me  
I deserve it

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** Why would you ever deserve it?

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** I put up with you?

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** Fair.  
Nal's getting quieter with every death at this boss.

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** yeah  
and imagine what they think about you  
mister only says hi and bye  
wow, so friendly  
what a nice guy

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** Let's go back to me being your sister.

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** no  
why did we pick matching names again  
you're a dick

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** I'm very offended.

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** get over it and carry me!

For their fifth member, they'd ended up getting two different random players. Simba had tried to explain it the best that he could—since everyone but her and the new person that had joined had completed it before—but she wasn't the best at understanding everything that was said.

Nathaniel whispered her his own instructions, trying to make it easier, but she generally just wanted to give up by the time they'd made it to the third boss.

It had already been two hours.

Marinette stretched out her hands, eyes watering when she yawned.

As sweet as it was for Simba and Nal to try and help her, it was clear from their seventh attempt at fighting the boss that they weren't quite cut out for it. Marinette knew that she wasn't exactly equipped to do the most damage, or be that useful in general, and she doubted that any of them were perfectly equipped (that was the reason they were playing with her at all, rather than speed-running and leaving her behind).

At least the party chat was amusing.

 **(party) Nalwhal:  
** we'll get it someday  
I swear

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** its ok  
look at suha go  
solo it for us

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** the day he solos anyone other than himself  
will be a miracle

 **(party) Nalwhal:  
** afkjdsgsh

 **(party) Yotsuha:  
** Ow.

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** ahahaha it was a good effort!  
nice try  
cheering for you in the future

And while Nathaniel sometimes typed in party chat to the others, he was a lot more open privately.

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** I can't believe I laughed at that.

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** what do you mean  
I'm hilarious

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** You're my worst enemy.

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** there's a fine line between love and hate

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** And you're very fine.

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** yeah, exactly  
thanks for noticing  
now pls kill this boss before I die

And after the tenth defeat where every died, which required all of them to run through enemies they didn't want to fight to get to the boss again, it was terribly clear that they weren't doing very well when their second random left.

Marinette leaned back in her chair, letting out a breath.

It was their interactions that made her continue playing. Nathaniel barely ever got annoyed at the game, something she was grateful for, and Marinette only ever got irritated if she was already in a bad mood before logging in. And from what she'd seen of Simba and Nal, who she barely knew, they were easy-going and never got angry at her for dying at the worst things.

Like dying from falling from too high a place, for example.

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** oh

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** fucking rip  
you had a good life

And as they left their posting up to try and find their fifth and final member, it was mostly her chatting to Simba in the party chat after they'd gotten to the boss area. Marinette enjoyed making her character sit prettily, the other three joining her and creating a misshapen circle with her, while they wait for someone to join them.

Someone did, but they died within seconds of joining their instance, leaving immediately.

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** what

 **(party) Nalwhal:  
** he  
he fucking died

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** yeah but  
how

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** probably new  
newer than you  
can you believe that?

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** consider me your kid  
please raise me correctly

 **(party) Nalwhal:  
** I think I'd know if I was pregnant

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** adopted

 **(party) Yotsuha:  
** No one would ever adopt you.

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** excuse you?

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** suhas so quiet  
but so full of wisdom

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** bullying

It was some minutes later, after one more joined before instantly leaving after asking whether they were on the last boss or not—which they definitely _weren't—_ that Simba proposed inviting one of his friends to join.

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** you cool that?  
dude is pretty good at this kinda shit

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** I'm not going to say no to help  
but like  
he does realise it's my first time right

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** ye  
but that should be fine?  
has helped out a lot before

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** no complaints here

It took ten minutes for Simba's friend to appear. While Marinette had become somewhat friends with Simba, they only saw each other in passing in the cities at times, mostly running the dungeons together in the evenings when others were offline. The only other guild member that she'd met from his guild was his girlfriend—which wasn't saying much, they were always together—so she didn't know what to think.

And when they joined, she really didn't understand what she'd expected.

 **(party) Riena:  
** hey!  
which boss are you guys at?  
i can get there in a few minutes  
just finishing this up and i'll be there!

The name was one she'd seen in passing, one of the many users that chatted in the cities, but it only really clicked when a few minutes later they'd joined their instance, the portrait of their character becoming visible on her screen.

Marinette had definitely considered getting their armour before.

Simba made the introductions of her and Nathaniel a bit awkwardly—referring to them as Mitsu and Suha, as they definitely weren't close enough to share their actual names—before Simba and his friend, Riena, began to talk casually about topics and people that she didn't know of.

Riena wasn't in Simba and Nal's guild.

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** Didn't you send me a screenshot of that armour before?

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** we do not speak of that here  
nothing happened  
I'm a ghost  
they'll never know

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** I'm surprised Simba knows them.

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** I don't know anything  
he could be friends with anyone  
everyone I've ever screenshotted  
no one is safe

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** I'm sure.

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** thank you for supporting me  
now pls kill me

And after Riena had caught up to where they were on the map, arriving without any difficulty and wearing armour that Marinette definitely liked the look of, and had finally finished getting Simba up-to-date on the gossip, they then turned towards her and Nathaniel and had their character wave.

It was pretty cute.

Marinette did the same back with a smile on her face.

 **(party) Riena:  
** hey!  
nice to meet you!

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** you too  
thanks for coming to help us out!

 **(party) Simba:  
** save the thanks for when its dead  
if it dies  
you know what i mean

 **(party) Riena:  
** ahhhh yeah  
i can probably solo some of it?  
but if you want to all be alive i won't!

It turned out that Riena wasn't kidding about that at all.

It was either Marinette or Nal ending up dying first, becoming a inconvenience to the rest of the team, and when four of them had all died, leaving Riena as the only one surviving, they managed to get the health down a good chunk all by themselves before slipping up.

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** what the fuck

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** Get good.  
That's the only answer, Mari.

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** I don't think I'll ever be good  
sorry

And somewhere along the way, Marinette started to assume that Riena was a girl. From the cute way of typing, the gestures she made her character do between kills while they were waiting for everyone to catch up so they could retry, and the positive attitude—it was just a general assumption that Nathaniel went along with.

It wasn't as though she was going to _ask_.

She wasn't the type to just add someone to her miniscule friends list; she had a total of ten people on there with them all adding her back, so she knew when they were online, their in-game locations and which characters they were on at the time.

Riena was incredibly positive whenever they died, and constantly tried to give tips and points, easily taking the role of trying to reach her from Simba without much protest. And it became clear within a few tries that Riena was good at getting others to understand what she meant—a lot more than Simba had for the runs without her before.

It was almost an hour later when they managed to defeat the boss.

The cutscene that came afterwards, showing the boss dying and their characters' reactions, was one that she hadn't seen before, and she hoped that she wasn't being too annoying by slowing everyone down by watching it when it could've been skipped.

 **(party) Riena:  
** you did it!  
i knew you could but here you are  
out here killing things!

 **(party) Nalwhal:  
** riena stop

 **(party) Riena:  
** i can't  
i'm a proud mother right now  
so proud

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** you have to escort us to the next boss  
are you really happy

 **(party) Riena:  
** i mean  
i could run by myself  
and get a point for you guys to port to  
if you want?

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** you mean  
I get to stay here and be lazy?

 **(party) Riena:  
** yeah but  
i could take you along?  
if you wanted to know for the future

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** I don't think I ever want to step here again  
I'm scarred

 **(party) Riena:  
** it's not that bad!

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** i think mitsus just that bad

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** no point even denying that now  
you're literally here to carry me

 **(party) Riena:  
** well then  
would you like me to escort you to the next boss  
my lady?

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** ew

 **(party) Riena:  
** i'm but a humble knight

 **(party) Nalwhal:  
** that's gross

 **(party) Riena:  
** let me be cute  
what the heck!

Riena really did try and take her along, but it meant running through mobs of enemies and trying not to die—which really wasn't Marinette's strong point, especially when she had no idea where she was going. And when she'd died, gone back to where the others were waiting at the old boss, Riena had teleported back to join her, telling her that it was a nice try and trying to give her pointers for the future.

It was really nice of her.

Nathaniel, however, found it hilarious.

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** I bet you won't even make it halfway this time.

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** this is technically called bullying  
there's a report button for a reason  
I'll do it

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** Do it, you won't.

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** blocked

After three tries, Riena ended up going alone. Simba and Nal were fine with the whole dungeon taking as much time as possible—they confirmed that they had a couple of hours spare, joking that they needed it with how bad Marinette was at learning new things—and Marinette was just genuinely happy that she had friends willingly to put aside so much time for her.

The new location that was unlocked for them to teleport to was only a short run. Marinette ended up dying once, though, as she accidentally rolled and caused enemies to attack her.

 **(party) Riena:  
** oh my god  
rip?

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** I want to die permanently

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** youre on your way there  
dont worry

The boss wasn't as hard as the last one, thankfully. Marinette did die once at the beginning, but she was able to be revived, still utterly confused and trying to understand what was even going on, and she briefly regretted not looking up for guides online—but she'd never really been into that before. Riena had been kind enough to try and tell her everything beforehand, but it kind of slipped her mind during the fight.

When Nathaniel died, he didn't type in party chat.

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** Why am I doing this for you?

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** so I can look cool  
what else

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** Your image is ruined whenever you open your mouth.

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** you must've thought I was cool once  
go back to that

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** That was before I actually knew you.  
Impossible to think now.

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** love me

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** No.

It didn't take them as long as the last. Marinette was alive when the boss fell, making her character cheer and smiling stupidly when everyone else did the same as her, and she was more than pleased when Simba pointed out that they only had one more to kill.

But, unfortunately, it required her to stay alive during the run there. According to Simba, killing all the enemies would take too much time, and barely anyone ever did that as it was, so it was common practice for everyone to group together and make it through by running through everything together, trying to be sneaky along the sidelines.

It wasn't at all what she was good at.

 **(party) Riena:  
** there's that  
ahh, i think it's still here?  
the jump glitch  
where you can skip a load?

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** didnt that get fixed

 **(party) Riena:  
** tried to  
still works  
if you wanna try?

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** i dont mind but  
it involves some jumping mitsu

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** I don't mind what we do!

 **(party) Nalwhal:  
** the glitch is easier

 **(party) Riena:  
** if you can make the jumps!  
otherwise it might be slower  
but it is safer overall  
whichever you guys want to do

It took a few minutes to decide, to which Nathaniel finally spoke in the chat again to announce that he'd never tried to the glitch himself, and it was only then that they decided to go for it together.

And as she suspected, Marinette was absolutely awful at it.

There was a reason that she didn't like jumping puzzles in games, that one in particular, and it seemed that to even get to the bug, she needed to complete one.

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** I'm never going to be able to do this?

 **(party) Riena:  
** you can do it!  
i can come down and show you how  
hang on

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** I don't think it'll really  
help

 **(party) Riena:  
** no no  
wait!

And while Simba, Nal, and Nathaniel were all standing in a safe place, having already completed the jumps and waiting for her, Marinette was trying to replicate Riena's movements, but she wasn't having much luck with them. Even when Riena came back and specifically took one jump before turning back to face her, trying to coax her over, Marinette ended up messing it up and falling down, almost getting killed every time in the process.

She almost thought it was harder than the bosses they'd fought.

 **(party) Riena:  
** almost!

It wasn't almost at all.

But no one was getting frustrated with her, thankfully. Marinette laughed a lot at how ridiculously bad she was at the jumps—clearly not her speciality—and the private messages that Nathaniel sent didn't help when she had to pause every now and then to calm down due to her laughter.

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** If you complete it this time, I'll give you all of my gold.

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** you'd give me it anyway?

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** True.  
What would you like, then?

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** actually pick something good for us to watch  
for once

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** Yeah, no.

Riena was nice throughout it all. She continued to write encouraging messages, even making her character cheer or do something else cute whenever Marinette managed to make one jump, but whenever she fell down, it meant that she had to start from the beginning all over again.

And it only just occurred to her that it if they failed to kill the boss the first time, they really would have to do it all over again.

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** I'm never going to make it?

 **(party) Riena:  
** you can!  
if you're really that worried  
i can swap?  
so i can cheat you up here

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** but this is already a cheat  
and it feels like so much work

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** its work because you cant jump  
youre useless  
im unadopting you

There was no mistaking that he was joking, though. Simba had never actually gotten mad at her before, and she was sure that if he was annoyed, he would've left hours before, back when they'd first started failing at the dungeons.

So, she couldn't help but laugh.

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** but dad!

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** thats father to you  
exfather

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** nal!

 **(party) Nalwhal:  
** don't look at me  
I never even adopted you  
you're from his previous marriage

 **(party) Riena:  
** family drama  
exciting

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** I'm gonna cry

 **(party) Riena:  
** nal, didn't you adopt me?

 **(party) Nalwhal:  
** no  
you're unadopted too

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** i want a strong and independent child  
not a weakling like you two

 **(party) Riena:  
** no!

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** like suha  
im adopting him

 **(party) Nalwhal:  
** I guess that's fine  
he seems good

 **(party) Riena:  
** i'm so upset?  
how could you?

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** no one's ever said that before

 **(party) Yotsuha:  
** Thanks.

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** so strong  
so independent

And, somehow, that turned into the running gag between the three of them while Riena continued to try and help Marinette through it. Riena offered again for her to swap and cheat Marinette through even more, but she wanted to at least be able to do something by herself, since it seemed that no one minded how much time she was taking up.

 **(party) Riena:  
** you can do it!

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** you must be lying by now  
right

 **(party) Riena:  
** no no!  
us rejects have to stick together, right?

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** rejects?

 **(party) Riena:  
** well, we're not with the happy family up there  
so we should keep each other company!

 **(party) Nalwhal:  
** we can hear you  
you know

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** go gossip in whisper  
you losers

 **(party) Riena:  
** leave us alone!

It was almost fifteen minutes later that she managed to make it to the top. Marinette's character almost fell right back off since she was so shocked that she'd made it that she stepped backwards, but, thankfully, she didn't.

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** see!  
i told you you could do it

Even after Simba said that they should whisper to each other, they hadn't actually done it. The last whispers she'd had had all been from Nathaniel talking with her, as he was too shy to actually talk any further in the party chat, instead having just been sat down beside Simba and Nal the whole time.

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** all because of you!  
thank you so much  
I mean  
we might still have to do it again  
and I'll fail tragically  
but thanks

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** i'll just help you again!  
if that happens  
fingers crossed it doesn't  
i believe in you!

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** that's sweet of you

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** oh  
is it?

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** well  
yes?  
suha's been expecting me to ragequit that whole time

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** ahaha  
really?

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** yes!  
he's just good at jumping  
I'm not

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** it's just practice, i guess!

Their small exchange was interrupted rather quickly.

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** Whatcha doing back there?  
We're waiting for you.

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** oops

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** sorry, coming!  
got distracted

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** with what?

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** I'm new here, okay  
I was looking at the scenery

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** its literally rock and rotting things  
not very nice to look at

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** nicer than you

 **(party) Nalwhal:  
** I can confirm that

It barely took a minute to catch up to them. Riena was beside her the whole time, showing her the right way to go, even though she could see everyone else's dots on the map to indicate where they were at. Still, the thought was appreciated.

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** sorry for holding you up!

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** thanks for the escort!

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** of course  
it's my job to show you around here  
remember?

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** isn't it to carry me

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** i can do that too  
but wouldn't you rather have someone guiding you?

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** mmm  
hard to say

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** ahaha, maybe  
let's finish this for you!

Rather than taking multiple attempts, as all the other bosses had had, they finished it the first time. Nal accidentally died and proceeded to spend the rest of the fight typing in the chat—which meant that it was the most Marinette had ever seen her type for so long, but then again, they had been playing for a few hours at that point—and Marinette almost died herself when Nathaniel did, as she was too busy laughing at the stupid message that he'd sent her.

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** thank you so much!

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** im not doing that again  
for like a week

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** so much!

With how long it had taken them to complete it, she had to wonder how much time much more experienced players took to do it. Considering that she didn't even have enough tokens to buy one piece of armour from one path,

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** Did you get enough tokens?

 **(whisper to) Yotsuha:  
** hahahahaa

 **(whisper from) Yotsuha:  
** That's a no.

 **(party) Riena:  
** do you still need the other paths?  
because i'd be up for them  
in the future  
or even now!

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** no  
not now

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** really?

 **(party) Riena:  
** yeah, sure!  
this was fun  
why not

She stayed in the party for a little bit after they were done. It was mostly Simba and Riena talking after that, mentioning people that she didn't know again, and she amused herself by whispering Nathaniel as she travelled back to a city to access her bank, trying to figure out how much more of anything she needed.

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** thanks again, guys!  
I'm gonna go now

 **(party) Simbaote:  
** bye mitsu

 **(party) Nalwhal:  
** bye!

She left before she could see whether Nathaniel would even talk in the chat. And a few seconds after she'd done that, an invitation popped up for her to join his party, and she accepted quickly. It was common for the two of them just to stay in a party together despite them not doing anything together, and after the long dungeon, she doubted that either of them actually wanted to do anything for a while.

 **(party) Yotsuha:  
** Back in a bit.

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** ok ok

To her surprise, the next message she got wasn't from Nathaniel.

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** hi!  
is it okay if i add you as a friend?

It wasn't something that even needed to be asked. Sure, all of her information wouldn't turn up on his friends list unless she actually added him back—without that he would only see if she was online or not—but she'd never actually had someone ask her that before.

It was a little cute.

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** sure?  
bit strange to ask but sure

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** i just wanted to make sure!  
i've seen you around before  
but we've just never chatted

And for Riena to say that she recognised her was utterly surprising. While Marinette had been playing a few months, enough to start to notice some constant players on her server, she hadn't considered that someone would start to recognise her, too. And for it to be someone as nice as Riena?

It made her happy.

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** oh, yes  
I've seen you!  
I mean  
sitting around  
talking?

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** ahaha, yeah!  
i kind of do that when i don't know what to do  
so i've seen you sometimes!  
with suha  
that means we're on the same server, right?

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** yeah!  
I pretty much only play with him

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** what about simba?

 **(whisper to) Riena:**  
I met simba a few weeks ago  
still adjusting to it

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** let me guess  
he's trying to get you in his guild?

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** how'd you know?

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** it's very him!  
you're always welcome to join mine  
if you ever want to

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** thanks for the offer  
but I promised simba I would  
if we finished that dungeon

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** shame!  
it would've been easier to talk to you there

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** isn't that what a friends list is for?  
I've added you back

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** that's true  
so, do you still need the other paths?

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** I do but  
are they as long?

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** they can be  
that one's usually considered the easiest  
if you exclude the running bits

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** no!

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** it's okay!  
i'll help you through it, if you want  
and your boyfriend

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** suha?  
gross, no  
he's just my friend

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** oh, sorry!  
just assumed because you're together a lot

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** no, no, it's fine!  
I get it  
we're just friends

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** ahh  
that was so embarrassing?  
i'm so sorry for assuming!

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** I mean  
even my mom assumes it sometimes  
it's pretty normal!

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** let me be embarrassed

She really was cute. As they continued to talk, Marinette's smile hadn't quite left her face, and she was only feeling more and more fond of Riena. It was easier than the awkward talks she'd had with Simba at the beginning, and although she did tentatively reach out to him to talk about random things while they were waiting for Nal and Nathaniel to get ready to join them, it hadn't even felt quite as easy as it did at that moment.

Maybe she was just feeling happy still due to finally completing the dungeon, or that eager to make friends with someone that she recognised—and turned out to be a good player, even willing to help _her—_ but she really didn't mind what the reason was.

Riena was just really nice.

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** ok ok  
my bad  
please, continue

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** i want to cry

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** there, there  
you're too nice to cry!

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** am i  
am i really

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** you really are!  
I honestly thought you'd just like  
leave?  
instead of staying to help  
thank you so so much

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** you're not that bad!

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** but I am bad

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** no shame in that  
i was so bad at jumping once

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** but not any more?

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** i practised!

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** now you're a god  
if I pray to you  
will I be able to jump?

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** i'm  
not sure that's how it works?

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** I'm praying to you  
please grant me jumping skills  
you beautiful goddess

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** i mean  
i'm very flattered  
having cute boys grovel at my feet has always been my dream

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** pardon?

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** but i have to tell you i'm actually a god  
important info you need to know  
if you're gonna pray to me

There was really no mistaking what was trying to be said. Riena had probably picked up on her assuming that he was a girl from the goddess comment—and had corrected her gently without being offended, as some would've been (even though they were both playing _female_ characters).

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** oh, right!  
sorry, I just kind of  
assumed you're a girl?

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** it's okay!  
it happens quite a lot  
so you're not the first  
some have said i type too cutely?  
which is a bit strange

He was taking it well. While Marinette had latched onto the idea of him being a female rather easily, the change of gender didn't do much to change her opinion of him; he'd still been kind, helped her out even when she would've become exasperated with herself, and had stuck with them for over an hour, at least, because he was feeling generous.

Marinette couldn't help but wonder from one of his previous comments whether he really thought something about her.

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** wait  
you said boys?

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** wha

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** boys at your feet  
means me as a boy  
right?

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** wait  
sorry, am i wrong?

The response made her laugh aloud.

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** yeah

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** oh my god  
i'm so sorry?  
i just assumed

And even with the knowledge that he really had assumed that she was male the whole time, it still didn't nothing to change her opinion of him—she'd done the same to him, after all.

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** it's okay!  
i'm really not offended  
it's a pretty normal assumption

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** i want to die

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** noo, you can't die!

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** pls

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** but then I can't talk to you

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** askfjsdg  
honestly  
i'm so very sorry!

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** I did the same to you!  
we're even  
both terrible

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** i don't think you're terrible right now  
well, other than at jumping

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** very funny  
maybe I really am offended now  
I'm going to cry

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** don't cry!  
i wanted to make a good first impression  
not make you upset

And it seemed with every passing minute of them talking, Riena was making himself more likeable. Marinette knew that, perhaps, he could've been laying it on thick because he'd found out that she was a girl, but he'd already been friendly beforehand. Even if their talks didn't amount to anything, at least she enjoyed talking to him for a while.

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** don't worry, you didn't  
would it be okay if  
we talk tomorrow?  
it's pretty late right now

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** yes, sorry!  
of course  
i'll talk to you tomorrow!  
i can call you mitsu, right?

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** go ahead!

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** okay!  
cool  
do you want help for the other paths tomorrow?

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** for real?

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** i did offer!  
i'm not taking it back

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** then, yes, please!  
that would be wonderful

 **(whisper from) Riena:  
** okay!  
it's a date  
bye, mitsu!  
it was nice meeting you

 **(whisper to) Riena:  
** bye!  
and thanks again

The smile on her face was starting to make her keeps hurt at that point.

After sending a few similar messages to Simba and Nal to say good-bye, and noticing that Nathaniel still hadn't made his way back after all that time, she settled for just sending him a few messages.

 **(party) Mitsuha:  
** can't believe you're still afk  
whatever  
I'm going to bed, loser  
also riena's a guy  
who thought I was gay with you  
maybe we really shouldn't have matching names


End file.
